


Stroke of Midnight

by Origami_Breath



Series: Billdipweek2017: Halloween Prompts [7]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: BillDipWeek2017, Established Relationship, Halloween Prompts, Human Bill Cipher, M/M, Older Dipper Pines, Soothsquito, same age au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 09:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12651126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Origami_Breath/pseuds/Origami_Breath
Summary: A soothsquito is supposed to tell you a fortune for your future. Bill is not too happy when his proposal plans are at a risk of being spoiled.





	Stroke of Midnight

It’s what they’ve been doing for the past two years ever since they’ve started going out. They’d settle on Dipper’s couch, curled up against one another and sharing the heaviest blanket with a window open for a breeze, a bowl of candy and popcorn in each of their laps and a horror film playing low on the television. Dipper can honestly say that it’s one of the best nights that he immediately looks forward to every year. Bill’s always quiet this time around, comfortable and content during the night of October 30th, just waiting for the clock to strike 12 for the 31st in a way that Dipper can only partly understand. **  
**

Bill’s always loved Halloween and, since Dipper is dating Bill, Dipper’s learned to love the holiday too. He can’t say he minds. It is drastically different from his childhood, where he and Mabel would scramble for the most clever partner costumes and spend hours on the street to stop by every single house.

It was always a tiring tradition and, though he misses it, he’s incredibly fond of his new tradition.

He dips his head down further, nuzzling against Bill’s neck, smooth and clean shaven but warm in the way that Bill always is. Dipper can’t help but kiss the pulse point, breathe in deep and close his eyes.  _Maybe_  Bill will let him sleep this time around…

“Tapping out so early, Pine Tree?” says Bill, whispering low in Dipper’s ear. Dipper shivers, goosebumps rising on the back of his neck. He smiles against Bill’s skin, barely containing a laugh.

“Of course not,” he lies, hands sliding under Bill’s sweater to rest on his stomach. Bill doesn’t even bother flinching at the cold of his hands, just laughs and curls his arm tighter around Dipper.

“I’ll wake you up before twelve,” Bill says after a moment of silence, fingers dipping under the collar of Dipper’s own sweater, the pad of his ring finger sliding against his collarbone. And, well, Dipper’s not going to question Bill’s sudden generosity.

He nods off as soon as he’s granted the permission, cheek pressed to Bill’s shoulder and the majority of his body tucked under the blanket. He’s warm, swaddled, and hears Bill’s slightly escalated heartbeat with the smell of buttered popcorn and the hint of a cold, fresh breeze from the window. Everything is perfect.

He ends up waking up from a rough pinch behind his ear and he startled hard against Bill’s body who, in turn, jumps like something bit him.

Slapping a hand against the spot is when he hears the buzzing and a high, wispy voice saying:

“Mill is broposing at pidnight.”

“What is it? Nightmare?” Bill asks, long fingers tugging at Dipper’s hair. Dipper turns his head up, brow crinkling before it smoothes out because he thinks he knows exactly what happened. What a rarity!

“A soothsquito!” he shouts, jumping up from his spot and upturning the bowl of candy onto the floor in his scramble to grab a blank sheet of paper and a pencil.

“What.”

“From the window!” he shouts, waving a hand around excitedly, “a soothsquito came and bit me! It told me a fortune!”

“Did he now.”

Dipper ignores the crypticness of Bill in favor of digging in his arts and crafts drawer that mostly consists of dried out pens and broken or dull pencils. He knows that Bill’s being a little sour because his Hallow-eve is being interrupted but Dipper will be sure to make it up to him in no time. All he has to do is unscramble the sentence.

Bill stands up and approaches slowly, fingers curled in the sleeves of his sweater as he peeks over Dipper’s shoulder to see the message.

Bill takes in a quick breath that sounds suspiciously like a hiss and it makes Dipper turn in alarm, wondering if he got bit as well. But no, Bill’s just…glaring.

“Something wrong?”

“Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?” Dipper gives him a stern look and punches at his arm lightly.

“The itch behind my ear says otherwise, Bill.” Bill frowns even harder and reaches out to rub his thumb against the bite eyes darting down to the paper curiously. Dipper can’t help but grin, going up on his toes to kiss the tip of Bill’s nose.

“I’ll be quick, don’t worry.”

Bill looks impossibly even more worried. Dipper doesn’t dwell and just turns back to the writing, wondering if he has to switch around every two letters. The journal never specified the difficulty of the decoding, but he’ll try changing the prefixes and suffixes first.

His boyfriend mutters something about the bathroom and Dipper nods distractedly, writing each individual letter in alphabetical order to start there.

***

Bill is very unhappy. That soothsquito is lucky Bill didn’t find him otherwise he would’ve taken great pleasure in ripping off each wing and leg individually with tweezers before dissecting the thing.

 _Mill is bropsing at pidnight_. Really? That’s the best the insect could do? He’s lucky Dipper always aims to solve things in complexity. Though he has no doubt that if Dipper looks away and recalibrates that he won’t be able to realize the decoding is as simple as switching around the first letters.

And Bill has been so good at keeping the secret!

Ever since Dipper agreed to date him Bill’s done his best to make sure he couldn’t possibly ruin his chances so he’s made sure to tell Dipper any and all secrets, had regular date nights, and always made sure that Dipper was comfortable. Sure, he’s chilled out some at around the year one mark when he realized Dipper actually liked him back, regardless if he made a mistake or two, but he kept good on his promise to tell Dipper things and keep an open line of communication.

The proposal though…Mabel reassured him that that was one of the only acceptable secrets to keep from your significant other.

Having the soothsquito rat on him for this particular secret is a rough kick to the gut. Because, hey, Bill will be the first one to say that he’s not a great planner, but he was proud of this!

So. Drastic times call for drastic measures.

“Boop,” he says as he cuts the power line, grinning wolfishly when he hears Dipper’s shout of frustration. “Scared of the dark, Pine Tree?” he calls teasingly, already heading towards where they keep the flashlights, gleefully extracting the batteries and making sure the extra packs were too far back on the highest shelf for Dipper to ever reach.

A quick glance at his electronic watch tells him there’s only 20 minutes till midnight.

Bill can distract Dipper for 20 minutes. Easy peasy.

Navigating his way back to the living room Bill’s hit with a powerful wave of annoyance when he sees the candles lit up around the dining table, Dipper among them with that stupid piece of paper out.

“Pine Tree,” he says, and feels a little short of breath when Dipper gives him a cute little smile.

“Did you already check the breaker?” he says, completely non accusatory. It makes something in Bill squeeze and he can’t help but smile back, thrilled that Dipper doesn’t seem to even consider Bill as a culprit.

He’s going to marry him.

18 minutes.

“Yeah, seems to be a short wave. Should fix itself,” Bill says walking up and kissing Dipper’s cheeks in quick pecks, making Dipper squirm and distracted enough that Bill cautiously moves his hand over the paper, pushing it off the table.

Dipper, curse his obsessive habits, immediately notices the sound of paper sliding on ground and attempts to bend down to retrieve his project.

Bill takes that opportunity to blow out the nearest candle and Dipper slips off his chair at the change of light which results the rest of the candles to snuff out at the breeze of his sudden movement. Bill laughs and reaches down to pick Dipper up, kicking the paper under the fridge oh-so-casually.

Dipper huffs again, but curls his hands around Bill’s arm sneaking a kiss.

“Let’s just…cuddle on the couch and wait for the power,” Bill says, walking backwards and dragging Dipper with him, using a few kisses to the neck and cheeks to persuade.

Dipper sighed good naturedly, another smack delivered to Bill’s arm for his troubles.

“Never say the word cuddle, you sounded like you were having an aneurism.” Bill hums in response to that, dropping down in a heavy sit and dragging Dipper onto his lap before throwing the blanket on top of both of them. “What if we get a flashlight from the mudroom?” Bill tightens his hold on Dipper’s waist, shaking his head.

“Already checked, battery’s dead, can’t find the spares.”

“Did you check-”

“Mhm.”

“Okay.” It’s quiet for a few minutes, Dipper playing with Bill’s fingers and shifting restlessly to get comfortable. Then, “what do you think it meant? The message?”

Bill looks down at his watch 10 minutes.

He could just do it now, but he planned it perfectly. He  _wants_  them to have their moment at the midnight of Halloween, when they’re both at their best. Quiet, and in love.

Bill will be damned if he lets a soothsquito or Dipper’s curiosity ruin this.

“Probably nothing,” he tries, shifting both of their bodies until they’re laying down and Bill’s spooning Dipper’s body. There. A sleeping position will get Dipper relaxed enough for him to-

“It’s not nothing! It’s my fortune! What if it’s a warning? What if…if…pidnight!  _Midnight_! Something is supposed to happen at midnight!”

Bill wants to strangle something. And, since Dipper’s the closest and he’d  _never_ do such a thing to his - hopefully - future fiance he just buries his face in Dipper’s hair, taking slow breaths.

“Pine Tree,” he says, tapping at his hip gently. Dipper keeps going.

“Midnight? That’s in like, what?” Dipper reaches out and twists Bill’s arm enough to read the clock, “5 minutes. Something’s gonna happen in 5 minutes!”

“The power will come back on?” Bill suggests desperately, snatching his hand back and heart thrumming faster in a sudden bout of nerves. He’s nervous now. Is it because he thinks Dipper will figure it out before then or because…what if Dipper says no? What if Dipper is too upset with Bill for keeping it a secret that he just says  _no_?

Bill was not expecting to be nervous.

Dipper twists in his embrace, and Bill feels the crinkles in his forehead against his chin which means that Dipper either figured it out or-

“I didn’t mean to freak you out. You’re probably right about that power thing. Though I wish I still had the paper so I could smooth it out. I think it’ll probably bother me for awhile. In fact, hey,” Dipper pats at Bill’s arm, slowly sitting up and Bill can do nothing but stare at Dipper’s shape, vaguely making out his facial features, “I’ll just light the candles again, it’ll be real quick now that I’ve got a message I’m looking for.”

Bill’s still feeling panicky. Something he’s not used to feeling since asking Dipper out that first time. Though, to be fair, he wasn’t even that nervous because he didn’t even really _know_  Dipper that well when he first asked him out. The first rejection from a near stranger wouldn’t have done much but…a rejection from…from  _his_  Pine Tree? That would hurt.

He’s not used to things being able to hurt him.

“Wait till morning?” he says, tugging at Dipper’s sweater.

“It’ll be quick, Bill, I promise.”

“ _Dipper_ ,” he says, sitting up as well, pressing his forehead to the back of Dipper’s shoulder.

“Bill, I just want to know what the message says,” Dipper argues, recognizing Bill’s tone as one that’s meant to start a fight. Which is the absolute _last_  thing Bill wanted.

“You don’t need-”

“Bill! Why can’t you-”

“I’m proposing!” he ends up shouting, throwing his body back against the couch cushions in exasperation, hands covering his face. “The stupid bug was telling you ‘Bill is proposing at midnight’ and-”

“ _Bill_ ,” Dipper says, sounding choked, and Bill notices that Dipper’s in his laps, fingers deep in his pant pockets and is grasping the ring box, yanking it out and opening it in haste. Bill can only watch, mesmerized when Dipper pulls out the ring and slides it right onto his ring finger. Just like that.

Bill reaches up to touch the ring, now on Dipper and his eyes get drawn to the 12:00 on his own watch, relief flooding through him hard.

“Are you saying yes?” he asks softly, eyes drawn up to see Dipper perfectly lit up by the moon from the window.

“ _Yes_.”

Bill surges up eagerly, kissing Dipper messily through his grin, hands shaking where they grasp Dipper’s fingers, thumb rubbing against the band of the wedding ring.

He’s shocked out of his stupor by the blinding brightness that fills the room and he blinks rapidly, still clutching to Dipper.

“Wha-”

“Bill!” Mabel shouts from across the house, “did you turn the power off again!?”

Bill directs a quick look to Dipper, worried that he might get chewed out for lying but Dipper just laughs, ducking in for another kiss.


End file.
